27 Answers

They make these aluminum cupcake liners that are meant to be used without a muffin pan. I wonder if you could just double or triple up on the liners to make the paper ones stiff enough to hold their shape without a pan. It might work. :)

I have used the double cupcake papers, the ones with the foil outside and the paper inside. They don’t work very well; they tend to collapse and flatten with the outward pressure of the batter. I have made thousands of cupcakes in my time, and I would not do it without the muffin pan.

I’ve used the aluminum muffin liners without a pan, and while it technically works, the cupcakes end up wider and flatter.

Silicone muffin cups work well without a pan, but if you’re going to run out and buy them, you might as well just buy a muffin pan. The pan is much easier to clean than the silicone cups. I have both, and prefer the pan.

I tried both pushing the cups close together and doubling up the liners (half of each) – both ideas worked, if you don’t mind somewhat misshapen cupcakes (which I don’t). So, you can bake not-so-perfect looking, but still tasty cupcakes without the proper pan. :)